Metaverse and Sustainability: Business Resilience Towards Sustainable Development Goals

Professor Walter Leal holds the Chair of Climate Change Management and Health at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany), the first of ist kind in Germany, and the Chair of Environment and Technology at Manchester Metropolitan University (UK). He directs the Research and Transfer Centre "Sustainability Development and Climate Change Management". His main research interests are in the fields of sustainable development and climate change, also including aspects of climate change and health.His field experience in over 70 countries, involves missions undertaken on behalf of various international organisations (e.g. European Union, World Bank, OECD, UNESCO, UNEP) and attendance to specialised events in North America, Latin America/Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Asia and Pacific Region, and the Middle East. Professor Leal has acted as a Reviewer, Review Editor and Lead Author at the assessment Reports issued by the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change. He has written, edited or co-edited over 200 books has written around 100 book chapters and has in excess of 500 Journal papers to his credit.

Dr. Sandeep Kautish has been ranked among the Top 2% of Scientists globally by Stanford University and Elsevier in 2024. An academician by choice, Dr. Kautish brings with him over 20 years of academic experience, including nearly a decade in academic administration. He earned his bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees in Computer Science and holds a Diploma in Management. His research interests include Healthcare Analytics and Business Analytics. A prolific researcher, he has authored over 130 publications, including 53 articles in Q1 journals, 110+ Scopus-indexed publications, and 60 Web of Science Core Collection publications. His research papers have appeared in high-impact journals such as: IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics (Impact Factor: 11.648). Scientific Reports (Springer Nature, Impact Factor: 4.6), IEEE Access (Impact Factor: 3.415), Computer Standards & Interfaces (Elsevier, Impact Factor: 3.721), Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing (Springer, Impact Factor: 3.662) and many more. A highly cited researcher, Dr. Kautish has amassed 2,300+ citations on Google Scholar with an h-index of 28 while his Scopus h-index is 22. He has authored or edited 30+ books with leading publishers such as Springer, Elsevier, Wiley, De Gruyter, Bentham Science, and IGI Global. He is currently serving as Director at the Institute of Innovation at PhysicsWallah Ltd, India. He has worked as a Professor and Director at the Apex Institute of Technology, Chandigarh University, Punjab, India, which is ranked #120 in the QS Asia University Rankings 2025 and #691-700 in the QS World University Rankings 2024. Previously, Dr. Kautish served as Director-Academics at Transnational Education (TNE) site of Asia Pacific University (APU), Malaysia, in Kathmandu, Nepal. APU is ranked among the top 600 universities globally in the QS World University Rankings 2023.

Dr. Vijay Prakash Gupta is an Associate Professor and Ph.D. Coordinator at GLA University, Mathura, with 18 years of rich experience in education and research. He holds a Ph.D. in Management, an MBA, an MA in Economics, and is qualified in UGC NET in Management. Dr. Gupta has been honored by the Uttar Pradesh Higher Education Department for curriculum design under NEP-2020. He also received the 2020 PERFICIO Awards for Best Research and Innovation from BHS Foundation (New Delhi) and Campbell University (USA).
Additionally, Dr. Gupta serves as an editor for Scopus and Web of Science indexed books, reviewer for esteemed international journals, and has 30+ published papers in renowned national and international journals, including those indexed by ABDC, Scopus, Web of Science, and UGC CARE. He is the editor of eight edited books published by Wiley, Bentham Science and Springer.